Bitfinex may spread its $72 million loss among its users

Hackers earlier this week made away with more than $70 million worth of Bitcoins from Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. The company seemingly has more questions than answers at this stage although it has revealed one possible scenario that could be used to “cover” the loss.

In a brief blog post on Friday, Bitfinex said they are still working out all the details but are leaning towards a socialized loss scenario among balances and active loans.

What that essentially means is that Bitfinex may spread the ~$72 million loss among its users with each person forfeiting a portion of their account funds to collectively recoup the loss. Predictably, not everyone is happy about that potential scenario.

One commenter compared the theft to someone stealing a stereo from their car parked in a large parking lot. If that happens, the owner of the car is responsible for replacing their stolen property, not everyone else that happened to be in the parking lot.

Bitfinex reiterated that nothing has been decided yet and that they are still in the process of settling positions and balances. The company added that they will have more details to share tomorrow along with a FAQ that will answer most of the questions they have fielded over the past couple of days.

For all of the benefits that an unregulated currency affords, it is incidents like this that drive home the layer of stability that a regulated economy affords.